


Not with me

by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: AU to 2X07, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Hurt/Comfort, Imma make Luther feel guilty for every mean word, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Season 2 spoilers, Worried Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:01:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25886233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Of_Dresden/pseuds/ClaraCivry
Summary: They never asked if any of that blood was his.Five is bleeding, and he is also giving up.AU to 2X07, with hurt Five because after all that boy has been through...
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy)
Comments: 54
Kudos: 941





	1. Chapter 1

It was supposed to be over.

When Five managed to escape the Commission and get back to his family, it was supposed to be a fresh start, a new day in which he was no longer a brutal mindless killer at the mercy of forces larger than he, but a hero who would save the world alongside his family.

But... It wasn't that easy. At all.

To try and stop the apocalypse he'd had to go back to the commission, get himself blown up, and... Still not be able to stop shit. The idea that had he not gone back there would be no apocalypse had played in his head.

But he had a way, a loophole to save everyone, make sure his siblings didn't die - redeem himself, so that the only mark he left in the world wasn't just destruction and death. Hopefully, if he managed to save the world, if he managed to stop doomsday and save billions of lives, it would make up for all the shit he'd done before. For all the bodies.

That had kept him going. Saving everyone, all those lives cut shot, all those bodies that had surrounding him in the apocalypse. He would save them, he would save the world, and then they would be okay, his siblings too, and maybe he would be able to try and live with himself.

But he hadn't been able to do it. And he'd somehow inavertently caused another end of the world.

Lots of lives.

Millions, billions of them.

Dead because he hadn't been able to stop the apocalypse the first time, and had the brilliant idea of bringing everyone back into the past to fix things. And yet... He never could fix anything, right? He could only break things. All his thoughts ended in murder and destruction.

So when the Handler offered him a chance to undo both apocalypses and get his family back home, then he had to take it. Maybe he wasn't able to think up a way to solve everything, but if it was convenient to her, wasn't there a chance that she'd grant it? The survival of everyone just so she could play commission boss lady seemed like an acceptable trade.

So he'd done it.

He went back to his bloodthirsty ways, finished off the board of directors, didn't leave a single one standing. Brutal, efficient, without sparing it any thoughts. Trying not to think about how he was supposed to be done with this and yet there he was, at it, again. Being the only thing he could do right.

But it was worth it, right? It was okay that he was getting his hands dirty again, because the world would be saved, for real, he'd get his family back to their homes, with no apocalypse looming and it would all be okay. Everything that he'd done would be justified, and he would be able to forget... to continue... living....

He didn't manage this either. He threatened Diego, and he still didn't show up. Vanya hated him for asking they leave and fix things, nearly used her powers on him. So much for old childhood friends. So much for the people he'd fought his entire life to get back to.

The time to fix things came, the moment to wash his hands off and there was only Luther and Klaus.

He failed, again.

It was all he knew how to do, wasn't it? Fail, and kill people and make people angry and disgusted at him. He was... A horror. Just a killing machine.

Now the Handler was free to inflict all her petty wishes on the timeline, and he was trapped here, and the Swedes were still after them, and the nuclear doomsday wasn't averted, and...

He fell to his knees.

He never did get a snack from the vending machine - he failed at that too.

Now he was hungry. And tired. And feeling lonely.

And hurt.

All his injuries were complaining. He had tied up everything real tight so it wouldn't bleed and ruin things like last week, but the wounds had not disppeared. His shrapnel wound had never quite healed - he was just managing to get it to stop bleeding. Now it was bleeding again. So were some of his other wounds. Bleeding again. Hurting.

His chest and stomach were covered in bruises from his encounter with the Swedes, and then Lila, and he'd been able to ignore it just by focusing on his mission, and holding on to his anger, over not being listened to, over how difficult it was for him to get anything done, over having allowed himself to be a puppet again... but now...

Now that the anger was dissolving...

He looked at his hands. He could practically still see the blood. Probably none of those Commission people were good people, but still, his ability to kill them alll... Now he was going to be haunted by them too, as if he didn't have enough ghosts already.

Maybe it would be better to stop trying. Maybe the rest of them would be able to fix things, without him and his venom, without him and screwing up, without and the blood on his hands.

(Blood is dripping down his shorts again, blood is dripping down his shirt, blood is falling on the floor)

Nobody wanted his help, anyway. Even when they only had to show up in a place.

They didn't want it.

Maybe he should stop.

Maybe...

The darkness would want him.

*

They hadn't asked if any of that blood was his.

Five was a killer, of coure the blood was someone else's. Besides, he'd looked perfectly okay after washing up, with his synchronized watches and all. There had been no reason to worry - at least not about him.

That's what Luther thought.

And anyways, they had bigger fish to fry. Allison was concerned about leaving her husband behind, and he'd been worried about her too. She had already ended badly with one husband, how would she cope with losing another one? Was she even coming? Why wasn't she here already? Had something happened?

Then there was the fact that they didn¡t know where they were going, all they knew was that Five had got them a "deal" to get back home, with no endings of the world. But time travel had proven to be tricky, trickier and trickier, and no matter what Five thought they may end in the middle of yet another end of the world.

So they really didn't know.

Luther was a bit concerned about what Five may have done to get that deal, because he... Well, he'd done terrible shit in the past and he had just threatened to kill Diego, and of course, he was family, but if he was a dangerous lunatic, they should get him help, right? It would help if he wasn't such a secertive little shit, who just closed up and badmouthed everyone when asked.

The fact was, the others hadn't arrived, and Luther was too concerned about Allison to watch his shortest brother at all.

But someone else was watching.

"Klaus!"

"I am not talking to you, body snatcher! What exactly... how did you..."

"Klaus, shut up! Look at Five!"

And Klaus was having trouble focusing and seeing and existing after being effectively possessed through most of the day, but still... Something was wrong with Five. Which was a novelty, because when he was around, he was usually the most functional of any of them. Thinking, planning, moving, being cutting and telling them what to do, and...

But there was none of that happening right now. Five was just sitting on his knees, looking at his hands, as if horrified.

"Five? Buddy?"

But his brother's eyes were glassy, unfocused in a way that Klaus didn't recognize. This was not drugs, Klaus knew. This was... something else. Still concerning.

"Luther! Something's wrong with Five."

"Yeah, knew that already." he said, quite unkindly.

Ben near growled. Klaus mouthed a "not now" and Luther frowned. And then he saw Five on the floor, quiet, not berating them, or forming a new plan or muttering under his breath. Odd.

And then noticed the drops of red on the floor. Huh. But Five had cleaned the bood from before, right? Why was there blood dripping now? That too, was odd.

Even odder was when Five looked at Ben directly in the eye, even if he didn't have a body anymore, even if he was but a ghost, and told him:

"I'm coming."

And then he collapsed.

He barely heard the screams of his brothers, got to see something of the blue sky on top of him. It was so blue, so blue still, and yet Five knew that despite his tireless efforts it was going to become red and grey very soon again. He sighed.

The world was ending.

But this time, maybe they would have to save it without him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Five? Five!"

Luther was trying to get his brother to come back to the land of the living, but only managing to get more blood on the floor as he shook him as gently as he was able. He'd sit himself on the floor, and put Five's small head on his lap, tapping the cheeks softly, but nothing. Five was absolutely out of it, which made no sense, because he'd been his usual little ball of anger until up to mere minutes ago.

And he was alone with Klaus, of all people. How were they supposed to know what to do? It was Five who knew everything, who had the ideas, who had the plans. He'd thought himself the leader and the thinker... But he never had been. First it'd been dad, now Five. He was good at following orders, but he needed to know which were those orders.

"Come on, Five, we need you."

His mind was taken back to when Five had found and asked him for help. He had apologized for scattering them through time and he had asked for his help, told him he was a member of the family, that he was needed... Why had he been so angry? It wasn't like Five had scattered them on purpose. He never did anything time travel related on purpose, he got stuck, made himself a kid...

Why were they so angry at him all the time? Because he was a rude and scary little shit? Or because they simply weren't used to that, weren't used to him, and didn't take kindly to someone who felt so different from the brother they knew (trauma will do that to you) boss them around?

Whatever the reason, now Luther felt bad. Five had saved them from certain death and then got hurt trying to get them a way out, a way back home and to a world with no apocalypse. Just today, he'd stopped him and Diego from terrorizing some innocent old lady. It was Five who knew things, and who focused on not letting the world end while they were busy with their stupid "sideshow acts", as he'd called them.

He'd been focused on saving them all the time. Put himself on the line, made deal with devils (probably), all to save them. And they had let him down. They'd been rude to him, they had ignored him, snapped at him, fought him and didn't even ask if any of the blood was his.

Clearly, some of it was.

Clearly, they had failed him.

Luther wanted to fucking cry.

"What..." Klaus said, still all sweaty and gross, trying to think "he's not waking up?"

Five was not waking up. Five was lolling as Luther cradled him. Why wasn't he waking up? He had to. What were they supposed to do without him?

"Guys!" someone said, coming, as if they were running out of breath. It was Allison... and her husband. "we're late, aren't why? We had a run-in with thse Scandinavian madmen but we lost the last one..."

Allison looked around.

"What... is going on? Where are Diego and Vanya? Is Five all right?"

"He won't wake up. We have no idea where Vanya and Diego are and if more time assasins or anything are coming for us, because our main information source is unconscious." Klaus summed up, still trying to get his mind back in one, but happy to have Allison with them now.

"... that little thing is who brought you sixity year in the past? Just a skinny little white child?" Raymond said.

When Allison had mentioned Five (what kind of name was that for a child, anyways? He was a boy who cared about his family, he deserved a name) she'd painted him as some sort of killing machine, a ruthless genius who happened to love them enough to want them alive.

He'd wanted to thank the man for bringing Allison to his time, even if it was a fluke. Raymond had learned what real love, what determination and genuine warmth were thanks to Allison, and he wouldn't have known any of that without this boy. But seeing him like that, on the floor, on his posh boy shorts and high socks...

Allison had immediately sank next to Luther, left her things and approached Five. She knew that he hid injuries when he thought more important things were happening and getting back home and preventing two apocalypses probably seemed important enough to ignore some scratches.

She brought up the vest and shirt, like she did last time, and...

"Oh, god."

Their brother's chest and stomach was like a world map made with bruises, gashes, blood and half healed wounds. Had he been going about like this?

"Jesus christ, Five." Luther said, softening a bit. Sometimes it was hard to see all that Five went through and having to see it from so close... Well, it was painful. And scary.

Allison noted with a bit of horror that the wound she'd seen him collapse from years ago was still bleeding, the gash not yet closed (probably after reopening it too many times while being shot at). Which meant... Open wounds didn't last years, or months.

It had only been days for Five, days since he'd blown himself up, days since that attack on the theatre when he literally climbed on top of some armed dude to defelect gunfire from Klaus, days since the apocalypse. And he'd only ended up in another one, and what had they done, as he made deals and didn't rest or eat as he should?

They had ignored him. They'd thought that their marriages or cults or whatever where more important than him and his apocalypses, they had dismissed him and drunk and let him do all the heavy lifting.

Allison sighed, ran her thumb through Five's youthful face. He'd suffered so much already - and he'd been almost breaking when he'd told them about this new apocalypse. About how he'd seen them die, again, and he'd admitted that he didn't know if things were connected, and he'd apologised for scattering them and they... They hadn't been there for him.

In every timeline he got hurt trying to save them, and in every timeline it took him collapsing until they did anything. And jeez, he may be a cranky old man, but he deserved better. Starting with some medical care. She tried to concentrate, although it was hard after seeing that red and bruised stomach. But if he had internal damage? Internal bleeding?

"We need to patch him up, we need a first aid kit and a bed. Maybe a hospital?"

"I feel like the Swedes would find us easier in a public place." Luther mentioned. "They got Five and Diego at that gala, they don't care about being seen. Besides, there would be a lot of questions about who are Five's parents, and if we just say I'm his dad they'll assume I'm the one who beat him up and... we need someplace we can lay low, but won't be connected to us."

Didn't sound easy. Maybe some of the Destiny's children would have some property they could use, but getting there and talking to them... Klaus could not lay low around any of them, th everyone gathering around him and telling the others that the prophet was here.

Raymond looked at that beaten up that his wife told him was her brother too, that was the one that landed her here, that had... that had apparently worked himself till he had no energy, never once complaining about his wounds. His family that had a black woman, too. He'd got those injuries trying to save Allison as well.

"There's a safe house for us, for the movement and I don't think anyone's there right now. Only a couple people know about it, that Swede won't look there, seeing as not even Allison knows where it is."

"Ray, I... wow..." Klaus wanted to say something but his mouth was still pasty. His thoughts trying to find themselves. But it was a great gesture.

Allison smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"If he's the one that brought you to me, then I owe him a debt. And there's medical supplies there, we can do something for him."

Luther got up, Five in his arms, still unresponsive.

"....but. Probably best if you didn't come, big boy. I'm anyone from the organization comes no one will be angry about a beaten up child with no parents, or... or someone like Klaus. But you..."

"Luther, why don't you try and find where Vanya and Diego are, huh?"

Luther felt absolutely crestfallen, not wanting to part with Five, not when he looked so hurt, so small, so helpless... But he had to. He would focus on Vanya and Diego, they could be in trouble too.

"Sure, I guess. Just... You keep me updated, all right? And if I can help him with anything else you tell me."

He took Five to Ray's car, and left him there.

 _Be well, brother._ he thought, even if he knew that Five was everything but. _I'm sorry that I dismissed you, ignored you, hurt you. I'm sorry that you're not awake to hear my apology. I'm sorry that it took this for us to realise how much you do for us, how much you work._

And then he left, trying to undo the lump in his throat, trying not to cry.

As Allison went in the car to this secret place with her injured brother resting on her lap, she noticed that Five was still bleeding. And they were still being chased.

She sighed, looking at Five, again running her thumb through his cheek.

"How are we supposed to do this without you, huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Ben, Klaus and Five next ep :)


	3. Chapter 3

Ben had been missing his siblings for a long time. After having them practically be his entire life (that, and books) and suddenly being torn away from them... Of course he liked having at least Klaus, but he'd been missing the rest of them, kind Allison with her nice smiles, all the way down in Hollywood, Diego and his brooding but heart of gold, even, sometimes, Luther.

But he had been missing for much longer, because he disappeared and Ben did feel that he hadn't just lost a brother, but also a good friend. Five was someone with whom he shared interest, someone that didn't play on those mind games dad played as much as the rest. Someone who knew what it was to find solace in away places, to distance himself from the shitty life they had, through fiction, or science, or history. Better that than drugs.

So yeah, he'd missed him, a lot and when he'd appeared back with them in 2019 he'd been happy to see him. And then concerned, when he seemed in a similar self-destructive path as Klaus', drinking till he passed out, feeding himself only with coffee, obsessing over the end of the world. He wished he could talk to him, ask him if he was okay and not let him go until they really spoke about things...

But now he could talk to him and it was breaking his heart in a million tiny pieces.

"Five?"

"Ben... I... You're here... Klaus... you can't trust Klaus, though, can you?"

It was nice seeing Ben. older Ben, yet not old enough, but still... It had been so long, and now he was there.

"Five, how...."

"I'm not dead, I don't think. But perhaps not too far from it either."

Ben went to his brother, to see if he could give him a nice hug, like he'd done with Diego earlier, just show him how much he cared, how damn important he was.

As it turned out, he could hug Five. Ben didn't know if he was glad about it or extremely concerned. He decided to go with both.

"What's happening, Five? You just, collapsed and you looked at me..."

"I think it was something to do with all the time travelling lately. I am... I am seeing and feeling more dimensions of the world than I used to, I think. It's hard to tell. I may also be dying."

Ben didn't want to look behind them, where he could the shadows of Allison and Klaus moving frantically and screaming.

"I hope you're not. You deserve to have a life, Five."

"I've had a life."

"A decent one. Forty years of isolation and then indoctrination are anything but decent."

Five half smiled.

"You deserved it too. You deserved it much more than me, and yet..."

"Let's not talk about tragedies! Hopefully we won't have long to talk, and we must pack what we have with important stuff. Like. Five."

He tilted his head, as if he didn't know what this was about.

"You have to look after yourself better. I know that your mission is incredibly important to you, and that you think that is more important to get ahead, and keep working rather than patch yourself up properly but..." he sighed. "your health is important too, as much as the fate of the world."

"Ben..."

"Shut up, let me talk. I've been quiet for so long, and I've.. I've seen you struggle, Five. Talk to someone, yeah? I don't know... But Klaus can be a good listener when he wants to, so try, at least? For me?"

"When the world is saved."

"You're not going to make it there if you keep pushing yourself like this, Five. Please. Promise me?"

"I can only promise you to try."

*

To say that Klaus was worried would be an understatement. His head was still floating and trying to readjust after having someone else play with it for hours and now.. Now they were in serious shit. He was fairly certain that Five had said that ominous "I'm coming" to Ben's ghost, and the notion that they could be losing Five today, after mere days with him...

Well, it was rude and painful, and just too much to process after all the nonsense that had happened in the last few days (escaping the children, getting punched by Dave, a fun but maybe slightly concerning relapse into alcoholism...). And yet all of that paled at the notion of losing Five again.

He may not be the kindest or warmest of them all, but... He cared about them. He scattered them but then got them back together. He was an important part of who they were and he... Deep down, he was a good kid. You had to reach quite deep, but yeah. He had a good heart.

A good heart that was barely beating.

Allison and her husband were busying themselves with the medical supplies, had bandaged wounds (carefully, gently) and cleaned blood, but Five still hadn't fully woken up. He'd half opened his eyes when they dug into a particularly serious wound, but he'd never been proper coherent, just half opened his eyes, let out a little moan.

It was worrying. Moreso was the fact that even though none of those wounds had been to the head, when he'd opened his eyes his pupils had been uneven. Even more that his pulse seemed erratic, sometimes too slow and barely there, sometimes too fast, sometimes absent for too long stretches of time making them hold their breaths, feel the worst was happening.

Whatever was causing this, it was probably not something hospital doctors could do anything about, so they decided to just stay in the house. Allison had told them that she was almost certain it had only been a few days for Five since the last apocalypse, and none of them knew exactly what he'd done to get them that deal, but it probably hadn't been easy, or calm.

He must be beyond exhausted, trying to fix things, getting shot at and beating up again, desperately trying to find ways to stop the end of the world (again) (and mostly by himself since let's face it, none of the others had really given any ideas as to how to fix things) (except for Diego and his fixation with JFK) (something more to worry about since having JFK not die would probably screw the timeline in a million ways) (Gods, being Five sounded exhausted even from the outside).

So yeah, maybe he just needed some rest. Or maybe they were simply letting him die.

Klaus was fidgeting.

He hadn't seen Ben in a while, why hadn't he seen Ben in a while? He was there all the time lately, being so present, even having a body, even getting inside bodies, so where the hell was he now?

Was he fucking welcoming Five to the spirit realm?

Allison was sitting by Five's makeshift bed, cleaning his face of cold sweat, looking profoundly lost.

"Do you if he's slept at all since he arrived here?"

Klaus shook his head. Five seemed so full powered all the time, so manic, with his coffee and his ends of the world... But he was in the body of a kid, like it or not, and of he was pushing himself that badly, if he wasn't allowing himself any rest...

"I think the only thing to be done now is let the boy rest, let him try to recover energy." Ray aid, taking in Allison and Klaus' worried faces.

And yeah, it was easy to say. But what if Five never got that energy? What he never woke up again?"

*

"I don't know if I can do it any more, Ben. I don't know if I'm any good."

"Stop that, Five. You've saved them, all right? You've saved us all. Given us years of life, or semi-death in my case, but... You're bright and brave and you can keep at it, and manage a way to do it properly. But maybe you could try and delegate a bit? I know you're used to doing everything by yourself because for most of your life there was no one else, but... You're hurting yourself, taking the weight of the entire world on your shoulders. Let them take some of that weight too. Before it crushes you."

Five smiled.

"I do love a good metaphor."

"And I love you, Five. So don't come to me, quite so soon. Get back in that tiny body of yours, get better and start breathing again. Physically and metaphorically. And not just for me, or for them, or for the world - but for you too."

Another ghost hug. Five made the most of it - he'd missed Ben a lot too. So much.

"You gotta find your way so I can talk to to you without Klaus, ok? We missed out on so much."

"I will, don't worry. Now, you sleep and get strong again, yes?"

Five smiled again. Maybe he could do that."

*

After some hours of fretting of arguing over calling a doctor or not, moving Five or not, getting more drugs, stronger drugs, a defibrillator...

Five moved. Didn't open his eyes, but, seemingly... made himself more comfortable in the bed.

"Five more minutes."

Everyone in the room smiled.

Five would get all the minutes he needed.


	4. Chapter 4

Those five minutes became five hours, then ten, then fifteen. 

When it was seventeen hours people started to worry than he wouldn't actually wake up, that those three words he'd spoken would just be some sort of mirage of wakefulness. A lie, a product of their imagination.   
Ray left to be back with the group, and Allison and Klaus were fretting. 

But when it was nineteen and everyone had begun to lose hope, his eyes opened again, to soft voices. 

"...what leads do we really have?" Allison, sounding down

"Well, Diego keeps saying JFK, but I don't know how that may be connected to us. Or how to like tackle that." that was Klaus. "And Vanya? I mean I don't think it's a coincidence that she caused the apocalypse and suddenly there's a new one here, just after she comes."

"I don't know, is it a coincidence that we got here at this time, just when JFK happened?"

"Ughhhh, how does Five do it? Thinking is haaard."

Five half smiled in his bed, 

"Not for all of us, you dummy."

"Five! You're awake!" Allison seemed overjoyed. "How are you feeling? Better? You had us really worried."

"The sleeping beauty awakenths." Klaus added, with flare and a joyful expression.

"Awakenths?"

"Shut up, it's a word and you know it." Klaus took out his tongue. Ah, humour. So very missing in Five's life without Klaus and the others, and so welcome now.

" I'm fine, Allison. My body doesn't seem to want to murder me anymore."

"Yeah, some rest every now and then can have that effect. Now if you just learned to do it before collapsing..."

"Baby steps, Allison. We still have an apocalypse to prevent."

"Do you ever think of anything else?" Klaus asked. 

"Not much, you know, seeing you die twice makes it hard to think of butterflies or ice cream cones." Five mentioned - and yet, he hadn't got up from bed yet. 

Odd. 

"Understandable. But now that you mention it, maybe we should bring some food? Are you up for some breakfast in bed?"

"Guys, you don't have to, just get me some coffee and I'll..."

"We don't have to, but we must! You haven't eaten in days, who know when was the last time you had a proper meal. You sit up in your bed and let your Klausy and lil' Alli to pamper you for a bit, yeah? And then you can have and cool relaxing shower, and then, with renewed energy, we can go back to saving the world, yeah?"

"You call me lil Alli again and I'll rumour you to shave your head!" 

"you wouldn't!" 

Five wanted to be angry, wanted to say that no, they couldn't wait, a couple of hours could be the difference between them being alive and worldwide cataclysm, but... This was the first time in a while that he'd felt loved, taken into account, appreciated, looked after. And no matter what his mind said, there was a part of him (a part that was quite overwhelming) that just wanted to keep living in this calm, pleasant warmth, who wanted to have minutes more, who wanted to bask in his brother and sister's care. 

He was still a bit pissed that they'd lost the chance to get back home after what he'd had to do, but, honestly, there was really no use dwelling on that. The chance was gone, and at least Klaus and Allison were making up for it by a) at least trying to think of clues and ways to move forward by themselves and b) looking after him so he would be back in business and better than before. 

Breakfast was an actual quite decent cup of coffee and some buns, freshly baked from a bakery on the street. Five felt a king, with clothes, with food, with people around him... For so long, in the apocalypse, he'd been convinced that he would die there, alone and malnourished, with only Dolores for company.

For so long he'd felt that it was all he would ever know, all that he deserved. Just misery and hunger and cold, rubble and ash. And in the commission... well, the thought that his family would want to have nothing to do with a heartless criminal like him did cross his mind. 

But now, even if the end of the world was still there, even this awful mess of a situation hadn't still been resolved, at least he'd had a moment to appreciate just how he did have now, to rest and reassure himself that, hey, he still had a place in the family in spite of what he'd done, and, hey, his siblings cared enough about him to leave their own stories, their own lives aside for a bit to look after him. 

It may not seem much, but for Five, it ha been something unimaginable only weeks ago.

The food was delicious, too. 

The shower wonderfully invigorating. 

Now they could start working again, looking for clues, find Vanya and Diego, maybe look around to see what could be done by trying to infiltrate the commission again. 

The others maybe would take it more seriously now that the date was approaching, and he could think better about how to fix things, different paths to find their way home, now that his head had had some rest. 

Maybe them not showing up in that alley hadn't been all bad. It still stung a bit that he'd asked for so little and still... But he wouldn't think of that, it led nowhere. 

He would think of warm smiles, freshly baked goods, and his siblings' eyes, looking at him gently.

He would save them, even if they were annoying.   
He would save them and every other sibling, mother and grandpa in the world. 

Yes, chances had been lost, but chances could be made again. 

They would fix this. 

But not before another cup of that very decent coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this crap! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> You know you want to comment!!! (but please be gentle lol)


End file.
